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About the UW ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change

The National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE Program strives to increase the participation of women in academic science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers with funding opportunities for individuals and organizations to help pursue these goals. Visit the NSF ADVANCE Web site.

The UW ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change began in 2001 with a first-round NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant and focused on 19 STEM departments across campus. UW ADVANCE is a campus and national resource for best practices in academic leadership development, cultural change and policy transformation, and increasing the advancement and number of women in STEM fields. To learn more about ADVANCE programs, please see our ADVANCE one-page overview (pdf).

Women faculty representation in ADVANCE departments at UW has increased significantly since we began in 2001. UW ADVANCE collects data on the 19 original ADVANCE departments. There has been a 44% increase in the College of Arts & Sciences in the number of tenured and tenure-track women faculty across 9 science departments; and a 69% increase in the College of Engineering of tenured and tenure-track women faculty from 2001-2009. More data.

Our campus initiatives include leadership development workshops and consultation for campus leaders; career development resources for pre-tenure faculty; and informal mentoring programs for women faculty in STEM fields on campus. Learn more about our campus initiatives.

Our grant-funded initiatives include an NSF ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination (PAID) grant to hold annual, national workshops, called On-Ramps into Academia, for women in industry interested in transitioning to academic faculty or leadership positions. We are a first-round awardee of the NSF Innovation through Institutional Transformation (I3) grant, with which we created the program Promoting Equity in Engineering Relationships (PEERs), focused on improving the experiences of underrepresented students in engineering. Learn more about our grant-funded initiatives.